Local fire, rescue departments train to use equipment for grain entrapments

8:35 PM,
Feb. 10, 2013

Brian Turner, left, practices cutting a V-shape in a bin to drain out the grain with Mark Mahoney at an Auburndale farm where local firefighters trained to use new equipment to rescue a person trapped in a grain bin.

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About 60 local firefighters trained Saturday on a new piece of rescue equipment they hope they never need to use - a plastic tube designed to allow first responders to free a person trapped in a grain bin.

"It's nice we've got this and if this ever does happen, we'll be prepared," said Jim Berdan, a member of the Auburndale Joint Fire and Rescue Department, which is staffed by volunteers. The training was held at the Auburndale High School and a nearby farm.

Local dairy farmers are beginning to focus on growing crops such as corn because commodity prices are strong, said Berdan, who's a former ...